The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While countless VPs were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, making him become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
